The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen, more particularly, to an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen wherein an improved configuration of an electrolytic cell is provided for an efficient use of a current supplied thereto and a cooling unit for preventing a temperature of electrolyte from being increased is also provided, thereby producing the mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in a reduced cost.
In general, in a conventional gas generation apparatus of a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, the oxygen and the hydrogen are obtained by electrolysis of water, wherein the water containing a small amount of an electrolyte is supplied to an electrolytic cell provided with a positive electrode and a negative electrode and then a direct current is applied to generate the mixture of the oxygen and the hydrogen of an energy source without being accompanied by any pollution factors. A mole fraction of the oxygen and the hydrogen in the mixture is 2:1. The gas generation apparatus described above is newly in the limelight due to an increase of an interest on the environmental problems.
In this regard, many studies have been made on the gas generation apparatus and a number of gas generation apparatus for generating efficiently much more oxygen/hydrogen have been proposed.
As one of the prior art oxygen/hydrogen generation apparatuses, Korean Utility Model application No. 1998-117445 discloses an electrolytic cell which will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 2c. As shown, the apparatus taught by the Korean Utility Model application comprises an electrolytic cell 100, wherein a plurality of electrode plates 101 of a rectangular shape and spacers 102 made of a synthetic resin are alternately laminated and a pair of termination plates 103 are attached to both ends of the electrolytic cell and finally stay bolts 104 and nuts 105 are mounted through.
An O-ring 106 made of rubber is inserted onto an inner peripheral surface of the spacer 102. The space where the O-ring 106 and the electrode plates 101 take up becomes a gas generation chamber 110. The electrode plate 101 has a gas passing hole 101a and an electrolyte passing hole 101b which are formed through one portion and another portion of the plate 101, respectively. The termination plate 103 has a gas connection nipple 107 and an electrolyte connection nipple 108 which communicate with the gas passing hole 101a and the electrolyte passing hole 101b, respectively, and a current connection bolt 109 mounted thereto.
In the electrolytic cell 100 constructed in this manner, when the electric power is connected to the current connection bolt 109, the oxygen and the hydrogen gases are generated from the electrolyte within the gas generation chamber 110 by the electrolysis of the water. The mixture gas is exhausted through the gas passing hole 101a to be charged within a gas reservoir mounted externally. The water is supplied through the electrolyte passing hole 101b for a supplement for the water consumed during the electrolysis.
In the electrolytic cell 100, however, since the gas generation chamber 110 is formed in the space defined with the electrode plates 101 and the O-rings 106, with a radially outer portion of the electrode plate 101 serving as a radiating plate, the gas generation chamber 110 is too smaller with respect to an area of the electrode plate 101, causing the speed of the gas generation to be limited.
Further, since the electrolytic cell 100 scatters the heat generated during the electrolysis by using an air-cooling manner, it does not have an efficient cooling effect. Furthermore, leakage between the O-ring 106 and the electrode plate 101 may degrade the quality of the oxygen and hydrogen mixture gas being produced.
Meanwhile, Korean Utility Model No. 0196437 teaches an apparatus for generating an oxygen/hydrogen mixture gas, which will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
An electrolytic cell 200 for the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, comprises an external housing 201 having a plurality of radiating fins 201a for dissipating a heat during an electrolysis formed parallel in a longitudinal direction, an internal housing 202 being contacted to a lower wall of the external housing 201, a negative and a positive electrodes 203 and 204 mounted inside right and left side walls of the internal housing 202, being parallel in the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of negative and positive plates 205 and 206 electrically parallel connected to the negative and the positive electrodes 203 and 204, respectively to perform the electrolysis of electrolyte charged within the internal housing 202 so as to generate the oxygen/hydrogen mixture gas.
The negative plates 205 and the positive plates 206 are alternately mounted, being connected to the negative electrode 203 and the positive electrode 204, respectively.
The electrolytic cell 200 is also provided with a temperature sensor for detecting temperature of the electrolyte, an electronic valve which opens when the temperature of the electrolyte is increased above a predetermined value, and an electrolyte circulation pump, thereby maintaining the electrolyte under the predetermined level.
However, the electrolytic cell 200 constructed in this manner must have an operating power source having a lower voltage level and a higher current level, since the negative and the positive plates 205 and 206 are electrically connected to the negative and the positive electrodes 203 and 204, respectively, in a parallel connection.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen wherein a cooling unit for actively regulating temperature of an electrolyte is provided and electrolysis is made on overall surface of electrode plates connected in series manner, thereby having an increased productivity of the mixture of the oxygen/hydrogen and removing a possibility of leakage problem of the electrolyte.
In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides an apparatus for generating a mixture of oxygen gas and hydrogen gas is provided with an electrolytic cell in which electrolysis of electrolyte therein is performed to generate the mixture of the oxygen and the hydrogen gas by electricity being applied from an electrical conversion device and having a plurality of electrode plates arranged with separation, a insulating materials attached to inner wall surfaces of the electrolytic cell and having at least one surface grooves formed thereon into which the electrode plates are inserted, a water supply device for supplementing the water into the electrolytic cell, the water supply device connected to the electrolytic cell, a gas reservoir for restoring the mixture generated in the electrolytic cell, the gas reservoir connected to the electrolytic cell, and a cooling unit for maintaining temperature inside the electrolytic cell constant connected to the electrolytic cell.